Spam wars?

[Morticia]

Holy cow, what happened in the email spam world at noon today? I average 2-3 spam emails/day. From noon to 4 PM I got 26 spam emails all with 'foreign' character sets. And those are just the ones that got thru.

 

[Morticia]

So, it's 2 hours later and I have another 15 spam emails. This, for me, is just weird.

 

[swirt]

probably somebody testing their spam engine and it has a glitch in it.

 

[Morticia]

probably somebody testing their spam engine and it has a glitch in it..

Let's hope they fix it...another 63 this morning and none even addressed to me as far as I can see. (So, how I'M getting them, I don't know.) I looked at the properties to see if they were all coming from the same place but they're not and they are not lists and lists of email addys, just one 'to' and it's not me.

 

[swirt]

If you can get into your email at the server level and put them into the server spam folder (not sure if you have that option available to you) the heuristics of the spam filter may help block additionals that match the same pattern.

 

[Morticia]

If you can get into your email at the server level and put them into the server spam folder (not sure if you have that option available to you) the heuristics of the spam filter may help block additionals that match the same pattern..

I'm not sure I can do that. All of these are labeled spam when they hit, so they go into the spam folder immediately. It's just so odd that it's like one every couple of minutes now. While I was sitting here, 5 more came in. Odd thing is, I've looked at the properties and a few 'to' names keep showing up over and over.
I tried doing a test where I sent emails to my different email accounts (all of which aggregate to one location when I download them) but that didn't work, it just shows the aggregate email addy. I thought maybe FB was compromised and it was that email that was the problem.

 

[BBBBoB]

I was running into a similar problem ( not as bad as yours). My hosting company blocked the IP.
BBBBoB

 

[Morticia]

I was running into a similar problem ( not as bad as yours). My hosting company blocked the IP.
BBBBoB.

I checked and it's all different IP's. But that would definitely have helped if it was all one place!

 

[paulavery]

this may not be on target for you
a) Maybe your e-mail address has become the catch all for your domain name. So anything sent to *ANYTHING*@yourdomain.com gets sent to your main e-mail address. The host would be responsible for this
b) For years I started including a random string of alphanumeric characters in my sig blocks. I then have a filter set up to sift anything with that string into my golden inbox. Worked wonders, but I tend to communicate with a limited set of people.
c) I never publish my e-mail address on the net, as I am sure most here won't either.
d) I also use harder to guess e-mail addresses... pros and cons to this.

 

[Morticia]

this may not be on target for you
a) Maybe your e-mail address has become the catch all for your domain name. So anything sent to *ANYTHING*@yourdomain.com gets sent to your main e-mail address. The host would be responsible for this
b) For years I started including a random string of alphanumeric characters in my sig blocks. I then have a filter set up to sift anything with that string into my golden inbox. Worked wonders, but I tend to communicate with a limited set of people.
c) I never publish my e-mail address on the net, as I am sure most here won't either.
d) I also use harder to guess e-mail addresses... pros and cons to this..

Hey Paul!
I already filter my email for anything NOT the exact addy. (Which is why all this stuff that doesn't even HAVE my email addy in it is making me crazy, not even the slightest possible link to my email addy!)
My personal email addy(s) have the odd character/number, etc.
This is biz email so it kinda has to be where guests can find it and use it. (Which means spammers can, too.)
FaceBook required a 'real' email addy and would not accept my 'user @ myinnname.com' email so now my 'real' email is out there.
I have tried to change my newer emails to be 'different' but the old one has been out there so long I can't delete it for fear old guests won't bother looking for a new email.
Thanks for all the hints & tips!

 

[muirford]

this may not be on target for you
a) Maybe your e-mail address has become the catch all for your domain name. So anything sent to *ANYTHING*@yourdomain.com gets sent to your main e-mail address. The host would be responsible for this
b) For years I started including a random string of alphanumeric characters in my sig blocks. I then have a filter set up to sift anything with that string into my golden inbox. Worked wonders, but I tend to communicate with a limited set of people.
c) I never publish my e-mail address on the net, as I am sure most here won't either.
d) I also use harder to guess e-mail addresses... pros and cons to this..

Hey Paul!
I already filter my email for anything NOT the exact addy. (Which is why all this stuff that doesn't even HAVE my email addy in it is making me crazy, not even the slightest possible link to my email addy!)
My personal email addy(s) have the odd character/number, etc.
This is biz email so it kinda has to be where guests can find it and use it. (Which means spammers can, too.)
FaceBook required a 'real' email addy and would not accept my 'user @ myinnname.com' email so now my 'real' email is out there.
I have tried to change my newer emails to be 'different' but the old one has been out there so long I can't delete it for fear old guests won't bother looking for a new email.
Thanks for all the hints & tips!
.

FaceBook required a 'real' email addy and would not accept my 'user @ myinnname.com' email so now my 'real' email is out there.

That is one of the reasons I got a gmail account. That, and my so-called 'smartphone' won't read my emails unless it's that or aol or yahoo.
The good thing is that gmail filters spam really, really well. I never see any of it on there. Since I get most of my inn emails at the myinn.com address, that spam filter is set low and I see all of them.